Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to be able to post today to pass along some significant news about the progress on the construction efforts for the Rome Italy Temple. In a previous post or two, I have referenced the article in that Italian newspaper which quoted one of the construction workers assigned to the project as saying that the Church may be able to dedicate that temple in or around October of this year, if all goes according to schedule.
In light of that assertion, I was gratified to learn just a few moments ago that, while landscaping and interior work continues, the art glass installation for the Rome Italy Temple has now been completed. Since I have followed temple-related events and news so extensively, I can say with great confidence that the completion of the art glass installation generally signifies that any temple is that much closer to completion.
Let me be clear on this point: I do not in any way claim to have any special knowledge regarding how temple construction works. I base the assertions in progress reports such as these purely on observation and (when available) information I can gather from either experts on the subject of temple construction or from the available news sources that might give some indication of whether or not such assertions are accurate and justifiable.
It is also worth noting that the Rome Italy Temple has been subjected to numerous delays. On President Monson's birthday (August 21, 2013), the Italian Mormon Newsroom put out a release with a statement from Elder Massimo De Feo, then an Area Seventy living in Italy, who would be called as a General Authority Seventy less than three years after that, which clarified the point that no dates put out by unofficial sources should be taken as accurate, and that only an official announcement from the First Presidency would serve as justifiable verification that any dates are accurate.
So for the next little while, we continue to wait patiently for official word on when this temple will be dedicated. And I hope it is clearly understood that the more specific estimates I provide for temple events anticipated in the near future are based on my own thoughts and study, and the progress (or lack thereof) which I see on such temples everywhere in the world.
I will continue to provide updates to those estimates as I feel I can, but until those time-frames are confirmed or denied by an official announcement from the Church, they are merely my own thoughts and musings on the subject.
With that said, I did want to note one other piece of information which may be of interest to some of you. I have previously taken many opportunities to reference my opinion that the Church could (and likely will) have at least 200 operating temples by the 200th anniversary of the Church, which will occur on Saturday April 6, 2030.
Because there are 159 temples that have been dedicated so far, the Church would just need to dedicate 41 others (which includes the 23 in various phases of construction currently, and 18 others that would also need to be announced, constructed and dedicated by that time).
Between today's date (February 24, 2018) and April 6, 2030, there are 12.11 years remaining for the Church to do all that. And that could easily be done if the Church dedicates an average of 3.39 temples each year during that time.
We also know that the Church will be dedicating at least 2 temples this year (and perhaps as many as 4), and that any temples that could be dedicated this year and are not will likely have that occur in the early months of next year. Aside from those, there are at least 4 (and possibly 1 or 2 others) that may be dedicated next year as well.
And right now, it looks like there may be 2 others (so far) that could be dedicated in 2020. I have likewise heard that this year and the next will be significant ones in terms of potential groundbreakings for temples currently announced. If that proves true, then 2020 and the year or two after that will also be full of such dedications.
Whatever might occur in terms of all of that, you can be sure I will be keeping my eyes open for such updates and will be doing my best to pass them along to you all here. I also wanted to note personally that, despite dealing with flu symptoms for the last little while, as I have been able to do so, I have worked on fine-tuning my list of temple site possibilities that I will be including for the next General Conference, and I hope to be able to post that either later today, tomorrow, or Monday. It all depends on how quickly I am able to get that done.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Progress Continues on the Rome Italy Temple
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
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And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.